Sunday goodness.

Ahhh...the end of a great weekend. Boy, was it fun! I mean, there was a bit of work this weekend but all in all, it was super. The weather is lovely right now too, and that makes for such beautiful evenings, I love that.

I won't go into all the goings-on of last night but a few of my kids aren't feeling so great, and I hope that they feel better soon. They're headed off to my folks' house this weekend and um? I so don't want to mess that plan up because I am really looking forward to it!

For as long as my children have been born, she has always been unbelievably willing to take every single one of them... AT. THE. SAME. TIME. Do you know what that means? Okay, think about it... rewind five years. You've got a six year old, a four year old, a two and a half year old and a newborn. AT. THE. SAME. TIME. (I know, shocking!) She's done this since they've been born, but just imagine what it was like when she had all four at once? I can't imagine many Grandmother's doing that. Now, ordinarily I would give some credit to my Dad, but unfortunately (lol), in this case, I cannot. As my Mother has said time and again, "he's helpless." LOL It's so true! I, in all good conscious, cannot say that he's ever changed a light bulb. You'll have to ask my Mom. lol So, even though he would play with the kids while they're at his house, it was my Mom who was doing all the busy-work. ie: painting nails, coloring, doing hair, slip-n-sliding, bubbles, sand table, glue, play doh, paint (oil paints!), paint-by-number, water colors, chalk, markers, swimming pool, that humongous indoor pool place that I cannot remember the name of, countless movies (at the theater! AT. THE. SAME. TIME.), DVD's, dinners at real restaurants... we often refer to her as "The Entertainment Coordinator". It totally fits too. :) Mom, you're the best!

So, in short (or in long), my kids have as much fun as she does so I certainly don't want colds to interfere with this plan! However, Nathaniel won't be going since he's headed to Conservation Camp (!!!) and leaves on Monday (which is why we thought this would be the perfect time for Mom to take all the girls for some real "girl time"). Anyway, our plan is to meet up in Dry Ridge and do a hand-off. That will give us all day on Sunday to get Nathaniel ready for his big send-off on Monday. I'm so looking forward to it, not just for my own sake of getting some me-time, but for my kids. It's going to be AWESOME for them.........AT. THE. SAME. TIME!

Now, back to the day. So, I went to lunch with a friend and then to Jo-Beth Booksellers (no! not to get a book, you crazy people, you! I don't read! puleeze. what's wrong with you!). No, we went there to buy Vera Bradley stuff since they had a huge sale and then coupons to boot! The above is my loot. What fun! I snagged some awesome stuff in the Frankly Scarlet pattern and cannot wait to wear them, bein' totally sassy (that's a must).

Freebie: Right now Jack-Jack is attacking a Barbie. He's growling and totally givin' Barbie heck. I have to tell ya, it's hilarious to see him RUN through the house with this big (to him) Barbie lengthwise in his mouth. He's a punk, I tell ya, a punk.

Okay, so back to what I was saying...I snagged some great stuff. :) I plan on going back on Tuesday so if you want anything, ya better let me know! :)

On the way out of JB's, I stopped into another great store, cannot recall the name (sorry) and picked up a couple Life is Good T-shirts. Yeah. Yeah. I know what you're thinking. Didn't you just buy a couple new T's and don't you have enough of those T's? I suppose. But who asked you anyway, and why do you care? That's what I want to know! I love them! I love their message, I love how they feel and I love well, everything about them. Hey! They're not Hello Kitty or shudder the thought, Snoopy! (that's a joke. i wouldn't mind wearing either of those things but rarely can you find them in my size, they typically run very tiny and can only fit Asians who have builds of tweezers....this? this I am not.) OH!! (And don't get me started on Moon, who can go into a Gap store and find adorable things on the clearance rack, oh and did I mention the rack she's buying from is the CHILDREN'S rack!? Argh. Note to self: Avoid shopping in clothing stores with the Moonbeam, cuz uh, she's an Asian Tweezer and can fit into ANYTHING. And at really great prices too! Boo. Hiss.) I digress. So, I go with what works and that's Life is Good! I bought one for me and one for Jeff, in orange, not matchy-matchy, just matchy. :)

Jeff took the girls (because Nathaniel was with his BFF's, Sam and Grant) to the Renaissance Fair. It's about an hour's drive but the girls said they had fun despite everyone's stuffy noses. ::sigh:: Nathaniel was supposed to go, but Sam's Dad forgot his wallet as they went to pay so they had to turn around and go back! Ugh. They decided to just go to the indoor pool at our Rec Center instead. Argh. Poor guys. What a day they had! My neighbor's were busy filling their pool for some good after-school fun this week and preparing for a Summer filled with grassy and slippery entry ways, laundry basins filled with character beach towels, smells of sunscreen and lots of laughter. :) Summer is here! Finally. (soon I'll be wishing it was the first day of school, but for now... Life is Good)

Well, that's it for now. I'll catch up with you tomorrow!

Something blue... lampwork bracelet set

Hello! How are you? It's been a slightly long day for me, not exactly what I expected but it was long nonetheless. I went no where... I stayed in my princess pink studio, enjoying my quiet time and escaping to my bedroom to check emails now and then. All the while my mind has been engrossed in Outlander, the trials of Jamie and his wife Claire, their upcoming war with the Jacobites.... Ahh, I have to say that this book has captured my attention and I'm beyond thrilled that there are five more books yet still to hear. : )

Anyway, I'm posting this bracelet and earrings set. It's a soft but bubbly baby (sky) blue with wisps of what looks like silver running through the beads. A perfect piece for Summer or, better yet, for a wedding. If you want to see this piece and more photos, click the photo or go HERE.

I'm going to bed now.... I'm tired. None of the girls is feeling very good. Everyone picked and picked at the foods all day and that includes me. When it came time for dinner, no one wanted much to eat and it was a combination of chicken noodle soup, mac and cheese and lean cuisine's. :) I'm hoping we aren't getting something...

Have a nice day tomorrow. I'll talk to you soon. :)

Next-to-last-Friday before SUMMER!

Hi! HAPPY FRIDAY!!!! I am SO excited for this Friday because do you know what this Friday is? No? Well, I'll tell you! This is the next-to-last Friday before we have Summer break! I am thrilled for my kids, and me too because I am happy to not be rushed in the morning. I won't be listening to my usually-calm husband yell at the kids to brush their teeth, I won't hear him announce very loudly (I might add) to "HURRY, HURRY! We have to go!!" when we still have ten minutes to spare. ::sigh:: Poor guy. He just can't handle the slow-morning-shuffle. Which, truthfully makes NO sense since my husband is King of the "slow-morning-shuffle" but you didn't hear me say that, right? :) lol So yeah, we're kinda jived right now bein' Friday and all and no real plans for the weekend. Sa-weeeet!

Well, I better dash. I have stuff to do. Oh, and those of you still waiting for packages, there aren't many of you now, I think six, but don't worry, every one's boxes are arriving albeit slowly... I'm sorry about that! They're coming, they're coming!

A long day finally over!

Phew. We're home. The girls did great at their recital, that was a lot of fun to watch, surprisingly enough. My girls have a lot of balance and rhythm, something their Mom does not have. LOL

Nathaniel came in third place for the county-wide Spelling Bee, losing with the word "unconscious", poor guy. However, my friend Suzan should be super proud because her boy, Eric won! :) He moves on to State now. We wish him lots of luck! :) Now... since she's a friend, I can kid her about their Asian heritage and how we ALL know they're wicked smart. :) *smirk* But, I have to say, Eric studied, Nathaniel did not, so it pays to put the nose to the grindstone. Good job Eric! :)

And to Nathaniel...you did good, dude. Super fantastico! We love ya (and your hair!).

Afterwards, my folks took us to Dairy Queen before they headed home. I'm sick. I should have just gotten a cone. Or a water. Or nothing at all. Meh! I am going on a diet, seriously. I mean it this time. What? Why are you looking at me that way? Don't you believe me? WELL SHUT UP THEN! (lol) Anyway, we had a fun time. :)

What time is it again?

Good mornin' to ya. ::sigh:: I'm awake. The Littlest Boy in the house had to potty and now I'm awake, this always happens to me. I have been lying here in bed, contemplating about whether to get up and go look at all the beads I made last night. lol I'm dying to see them, to touch them, sniff them even... but alas, here I am, desperately trying to go back to sleep. I figured it'd be easier to get online and see if that will snap me back into dreamland. : )

Today is going to be a busy one for me. I have to get a bunch of things out in the mail and as soon as the kids get home we'll eat and prepare for tonight's festivities. My girls have their dance recital and Nathaniel (who took first place in his school's Spelling Bee) will compete county-wide. I sure hope he does well, he's always been a great speller. He doesn't get nervous either, cool huh? He gets nervous standing up to bat while playing baseball but it bothers him very little to stand in a room filled with people and spell long, difficult words. Yeah. I know. It makes no sense to me either. lol So, I hope he does well! He's missing a baseball game for it.

Thank you to all those who ordered Summer Splash. I will begin making the beads next week. If you still want it, order it by tomorrow so I can have them all mailed at once and arrive before June 12th.

Has anyone had any issues with using Puppy Pee pads? I was watching (my new favorite show), The Little Couple and it turns out they use them (since they live in an apartment) and their dog isn't a puppy. Do they work? I'm thinking of training Jack-Jack to use them because he's one of those who isn't quite getting it, however, if he has to go in the middle of the night (thus my being awake right now. nice. thanks jack. lol) he will go immediately where I tell him to. That tells me that he's no dummy and can learn to potty when told, and in this case, it happens to be my blue rug in my bathroom. lol! My blue rug is now rolled up and ready for washing since he didn't just pee on it tonight (or morning, depending on how you look at it). I'm thinking that if I can get him to use the puppy pads, that might be better. Apparently, from what I've read online, some don't keep them out all the time? So I'm confused on method, I guess. Anyway, let me know your thoughts because I would appreciate it. Little dogs, as you know, do not have big bladders. lol I would say they're about the size of a quarter, no a thimble. lol Yes, that's more like it.

Well, I better dash. It's now 4:36a and I'm thinking I should try to go back to sleep. What do you think? lol Take care and I'll yack atcha later.

funny!

You all crack me up! Thanks for the emails about the snake. lol

So, I killed a snake today.

Today while driving home from lunch I noticed something falling from the roof of our home just as we pulled into the driveway. I gasped. It was a snake! And not just any ol' snake, a long, nearly 4 foot snake at that! Holy reptiles Batman!

So, what did I do? I killed it, of course, and my friend Missy took photos of it. That's what we did. And here's the snake prior to it's death. Thank you Missy for your fantastic iPhone photos! : )

There's always something going on in my world, isn't there? I know what you're thinking, I'm making this up! Well, no sir I am not! LOL This huge snake fell OFF of my house and landed onto our sidewalk (that runs between my house and garage). Honestly, truth be told, I didn't like killing it but I'd rather it be dead than to come back and kill my Jack-Jack.

By the way, I killed it with my neighbor's shovel.

Blogger Issues

Okay, Blogger says for us to move the "followers" box lower on our blogs, that it will eliminate that "abort" box from popping up, so that's what I've done. I'll try that for a few days until they figure it all out.

While I love the new look of my blog and the ease of the adding of gadgets and widgets, I have to say that I never had issues with Typepad. :( Boo. Oh well. I'm not moving back, I have far too many hours invested in this whole blog thing now to do that! LOL Let's just hope Blogger gets it squared away soon.

If you use Mozilla, you're fine, if you use IE, you're not. It causes issues for some reason. Who knows why?

In other news... I am knee-deep into Outlander (by Diana Gabaldon) and um, omg, it's awesome. Just awesome. The movie can't come soon enough!

Okay, I'm off to bed. talk atcha tomorrow. :)
laurie

Summer Splash Lampwork Bracelet from byLGD

A special for today. I originally planned to price this higher (ask my Mom!) but decided to make it a "Splash of a deal" at $99.99, it comes with earrings too. Check it out by clicking here.

As I mentioned before, it's going to be a busy afternoon for me, so if you're trying to get a hold of me, don't worry, I'm not here. lol I'll be back this evening. Oh, I also forgot that I have a Girl Scout meeting tonight at 7p. Gaw! I love Girl Scouts, but boy this is a busy day! lol

Back to the bracelet... if you love it, grab it because I won't be able to make anymore right now. I'll take orders until Friday and then order all the flowers and "bloom" charms and next week I'll finish up the rest of the orders for this. It will be delivered by June 12th, 2009, just in time for for a vacation, maybe? : )

PS: If you are still having trouble viewing my blog, I suggest using Mozilla Firefox. : ) Wouldn't you know, I switch to blogger and now the entire blogger family is having issues with outbound links and such. Nice. Ugh! Also, you can try hitting your CTRL + ALT button and then the Refresh button at the same time, that usually helps it for me. :)

Happy Tuesday!

So, how is everyone on this bright and rainy day (here in Kentucky)? It's the strangest weather, weather I don't mind but definitely strange. The sun is super bright (which is why I'm wearing my new bumble-bee yellow Chico's top) and yet it's sprinkling. Cray-zee, I tell ya, just crayzee. lol I certainly don't mind since it's better than dreary weather so I'm enjoying it.

We're getting ready to head for lunch but will be back later. It's a busy day here. I have a special to put up (one today) and as soon as the kids come home we're off and running. The girls have their dance rehearsal tonight at 5:15p and Nathaniel has a baseball game at 5:30p, thankfully the field and the practice hall for the girls is relatively close, just a few football fields distance from one another, so that's good. However, I still need to find a black tank for each older girl and a pair of white leggings for the youngest girl and shoes for all the girls...no wait, I take that back. I need to find shoes for the youngest girl! Super! The older girls are supposed to wear tennis shoes. Yeah! Oh thank the Lord, I only have one pair to find. Yippee! I might even be able to find them at Walmart, where I plan to find the tops and leggings. Wish me luck. So, as soon as they get home, we're off to Walmart. From our small town it's only about 25 minutes away, but it will still be rushed since I have to haul us back here by 5:15p and be fully ready to dance the night away. LOL

My folks are coming again (by the way, we had a great time yesterday) to see the girls performance and also Nathaniel's spelling bee (more on that later). That's all happening on Thursday. My Mother-in-law is off to Savana, Georgia with friends in her motor home and I'm jealous because it sure sounds like a good time. :) I hope they all have a safe and fantastic trip, I imagine they will, they like to laugh. :) Everyone is busy and it's a fun time of year, looking forward to Summer, all the festivities, excellent stuff, excellent stuff. :)

I gotta dash. My prince charming is waiting on me. :)

Happy Memorial Day. My Studio Pics.

Hello Everyone and Happy Memorial Day! Are you having a nice weekend? It was gorgeous yesterday but today it's been rather rainy and icky, so we're not doing anything that would require us to hang around outside. Instead, my wonderful folks are coming today to take us out to lunch (Johnny Corino's) and to a movie (Night At The Museum II). So, we're going to have a great time doing that! : ) They should be here any time now so I will make this brief.

Originally I'd planned to have a sale for this day but I decided that I'd finish all the custom orders instead and have had lots of fun doing just that. Plus, shock of shocks, I've cleaned my studio room and took photos! You can check them out by clicking HERE. It took me three full hours to clean my room so you can imagine what it looked like before. LOL Actually, I did take a before shot so I'll add it later. I had to remove all the bits of glass from my glass work table and well, you need to go slowly because glass gets in your fingers. Been there done that. Anyway, I did a massive cleaning, getting to the bare of the table top and then putting everything back. :) Yeah! Don't you love a clean work space? I do, but when I get on a roll, things get messy as I'm sure my room will be soon enough. LOL

Well, I better scat. I still need to finish a pair of earrings for my Mom and a bracelet, she bought the Dream double-strand bracelet and asked for matching earrings...so I better get a move on it.

You all have a terrific day and I'll catch ya tomorrow. I did manage to make a few fun things last week to put up. The colors are lemon grass, sea aqua blue and robin egg blue all on a white base... some are encased (my favorite) so check back tomorrow. :)

xo
laurie

Jack-Jack's first vet appointment.

My Jack-Jack looks like he's wearing a tuxedo for some reason. LOL I don't know why, it just does. lol Emily took this (who's working on a website! shh!!) and so of course I had to post it. : )

Anyway, on Thursday Jeff and I took Jack-Jack to his first Vet appointment. He did quite well and now weighs a whopping 2.5 pounds! I know, you're shocked, I was too, because he's very small, but he's all muscle, baby! LOL He's a all or nothin' kinda boy. And I'm not kidding. He is either 150% GOING, GOING, GOING or 150% I-ain't-movin'-a-muscle-kinda-pup. It's the funniest thing. Also, his new favorite thing is to find birdy poo and roll in it. Nice. I know. It's really rather gross. So then you go to pick him and up and it's like, "OH MY WORD!! What have you been IN TO?" so you put him down very quickly and run for the hills. LOL I happened to find this out the hard way one evening when I gathered him up to give him a huge smooch and "uh!!! you stink!!!" came tumbling out really fast from my mouth. LOL Too funny! He immediately found himself being submerged in warm water and covered in puppy coconut and guava shampoo. LOL! He no likey that. Too bad! That's what ya get for playin' in poo. Ha!

Anyway, he weighs 2.5 pounds and is doing great. He's not quite big enough to get the rabies shot yet, so we'll hold off on that for another couple of months I guess. Turns out he had ear mites. My groomer, Cary, was the first one to really notice it. Right off the bat when we took him to get his grooming done, she said, "oh. he has ear mites." Then after a little research online I knew she was right. Anyway, they're gone now. He had a treatment in the office and we gave him one at home. Kills those little things fast. You get them from the mother's milk. Odd no? The vet said one ear was worse than the other but it wasn't too bad. Good thing. He hasn't been itching much so I'm relieved. : ) So, he's all fixed up and ready to roll in more poo. LOL

Yesterday I torched a lot of the custom beads. I have one set to complete (Suzanne's Custom bracelet with all the colorful pots!) and then I should be good to work on some new things. I so enjoyed torching. I'm in the middle of Outlander and OMG!! it is SO good. Thank you, thank you for all the recommendations on it, I love it! Long too! Can't wait to begin the next one, but I still have twenty hours to go with this one...yeah! I'm in the part where Claire just got married to Jamie (Fraser) ::giggles:: it's realllly good. I love the setting of time...what is it? early 1400's? I need to check, but I'm almost sure. Just a great book. Love all the history. It turns out that I adore historical fiction. : )

I asked my friend Missy if we could watch her puppy for the weekend. Wait till Emily sees Samson. OMG. She's gonna flip, or I think she will anyway. LOL He's a fun little dude. All black. He's a lab-weimaraner or whatever they're called, you know, the dogs who get dressed up on Sesame street? Only he's black. LOL Should be a fun weekend for all the dogs. I'm sure they'll all find lots of birdy poopy to stick their faces in. LOL!!! (you think I'm kidding? I so am not! it's an epidemic! birds poo. dogs find it. feel the need to roll in it. nas-tee!) Anyway, Missy's Samson is part lab and weimaraner so he's a real cutie.

Well, I gotta scram. I have a day to begin but first, I think I'll have a coffee and watch some news. Ya'll have a terrific day and what are your weekend plans? Anything?

Okay...originally I posted it with the actual youtube.com clip here but it causes my blog to shut down (great.) so I'm just putting the actual clip link and you can watch it yourselves. Sorry about that. blogger is having some issues at the moment with outbound links. grrr!

Here's the doggie linky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgQNx_aRZgk

PS: If you're still having issues with my site, it won't open or whatever, try using Mozilla-Firefox or anything OTHER than Internet Explorer.

Idol thoughts...

Before I head to my studio room (to tidy and begin working) I'd like to mention how happy I am that Kris Allen won American Idol. How excellent is that?! I wasn't sure he'd win but I've liked him for weeks. My Mom thought Danny would win and for whatever reason, I didn't think he would, but I know we both didn't want Adam to take the prize. Not for all the reasons you might think though. Yeah. He has a strange tongue length. Yeah. He has a unique hair style. Yeah. He screams a. LOT. Yeah. He's gay. Yeah. He's a bit theatrical. Yeah. He's all of those things...

My issue is with his being on stage since he was what? Two? Four? Something like that. Then his folks enrolled him into acting classes at the age of ten. See? I take issue with that. He's not a diamond in the rough that will be smoothed over time, with practice and being on the Idol Road. He knows his stuff, knows he's got stuff and knows how to perform. I'm wanting someone who is unsure of himself, has lots of followers who just like him because he's still trying to "figure it out" and someone who is well, like Kris. Or, like Carrie Underwood... remember her? lol Remember that girl? The one who sang in her church and nothing else? The one who didn't want to even try out for Idol because of fear? Yeah. Her. I like her character and look at how she's gone, making fourteen million dollars last year (so says Forbes). Amazing! And then we have Kelly Pickler whose background is so rocky, it's a wonder she even managed to keep herself clean...and she didn't even win Idol... and she made millions last year. I imagine it was her adorable personality and her ability to poke fun at herself (and her new boobs). LOL Go Kelly!

Which brings me to my second point... Adam will be fine! His career is in the bag, he's got it all wrapped up, baby. That boy will go somewhere, and we'll all be here to watch. Kris, on the other hand, I am hoping will do so well and I'll be there to buy that first CD. :)

In short (or long), I want an American Idol who's a brand new kid to a stage. I guess that's what I'm saying. :) Good luck to the both of them... I wish them all the best!

annoyed

i keep getting an "abort" box that comes up when i look at certain blogs, even my own. i've upgraded to Internet Explorer 8, but it doesn't seem to do much good... we'll see. i might need to install it again, i don't know. grrr. anyone else have issues with this? let me know so i can fix it! ugh!

laurie

Clearing out the week...

Phew. (how many posts do I start with "phew" ?!) I am happy that the week is coming to a close but that doesn't mean my work week is over, nope. I'll be working all day tomorrow evening and Saturday too. With Monday being a holiday that means I'll need to work Saturday. My folks are coming into town and we're thinking of going to see a movie. : )

Many of you are being very patient. Thank you, thank you. I'm still working on some duplicate work from my specials and custom work. I finished a few bracelets today and will probably get the remaining bunch done tonight and tomorrow. : ) I didn't forget anyone and have just been doing them one at a time, as usual. When the list begins to get to sixty and seventy, Laurie kinda freaks out and has to take it one-at-a-time or she gets VERY overwhelmed (ask my Mom, my friends and most of all, my husband!). So, bare with me. I'm here. : )

In my spare time, lol, this is what I've been doing. It's not completely finished yet but you'll get the basic idea. It still needs to have the galleries added in. I built it and did all the graphics, thank you Moon for letting me use your Studio area so I could take pictures. I can take fantastic photos of things that DO NOT MOVE. People? Not so much. LOL! I leave that to Moon and Emily, our budding photographer. : ) Anyway, here's the site... it's pretty isn't it? I love how it turned out.

http://www.sincerelyyoursonline.com

This shop is owned by Sherry Wainscott. She is the person who got me into making jewelry all those years ago. : ) She saw me in church and asked me where I got my bracelet (I had made it myself) and asked if I could make them for her store.... the rest is history. She's been a friend ever since and when she wanted a website, she asked Jeff and me to design it for her.

Okay, that's it. I'll talk to you later! Ya'll behave and have a great night!
Laurie

EMW Photos

Click to enlarge.

Aren't they adorable?
(clockwise) Macy, Ellie, Nicole and Nadine

We've been waiting for warmer weather. Me especially, but truthfully, I hate the heat. Ugh. I'm a sweater, and not the furry thing you wear when you're cold, no, I mean the kind of person who sweats constantly when there's a slight change in temperature. ::sigh:: Oh well. I take after my Father. Ack!

The girls are so excited to jump on the trampoline with the hose spraying them with chilly water. :) I'll get Emily to take photos ... now that's gotta be a good shot. lol

You all take care. I'll see you tomorrow!

My hand...

Many of you know that I'm allergic to latex and the handles of my tools are made of latex, so it causes problems from time to time. I have prescription creme that I use, so don't worry, I'm doing my best to take care of it. No matter what, I usually have some sort of break-out when I'm working a lot.

So, this is what it looks like. Nice huh? It does hurt, YES. It's sore and it hurts to hold my tools. Even having a bandaid on them gives me issues, but well... it's better than nothing. So, today I tried to do very little with my hands, only stringing things and not holding tools. I'll let my hand heal some more tomorrow and resume work on Friday. Sorry about that...

Okay, that's it for now. I'll talk to you later! I hope you're all enjoying your Thursday. :)

Laurie

ps: today is my fifteenth wedding anniversary! wow. 15 years sure did fly by. i hope the next 15 go by more slowly. :)

be back later!

i'll be back later! :)

Mr. Bean Faces

Do you need a pick-me-up? I need one! Today has been long, I'm overloaded with work...which is a good thing, but I'm wearing lots of hats (as a friend said to me yesterday) and so it seemed appropriate to poke fun at myself with Mr. Bean faces and have a laugh. I found him on a friend's blog and had to steal him. :) Talk to you later!

Weekend Update. Eyes. Baseball.

Phew! It's been a while since I posted, but I had to give an update from my anniversary weekend. :) It was wonderful. Our friends, Chuck and Missy gave us a night at Marriott's Griffin Gate hotel here in Lexington so Jeff and I could get away for our anniversary. It was a wonderful act of friendship and we are so grateful to have such beautiful people in our lives.

So, Chuck and Missy gave us a wonderful gift, my parents sent us some anniversary money to use for dinner and such and my mother-in-law came to stay with the kids while we were gone and even took us out to dinner on Sunday afternoon. It can't get any better than that! Thank you, thank you! We appreciate you so much.

The weekend was lovely. We had 24 hours away from everything and boy, what a change for us, we who hadn't been on a date in over a year. :) Jeff and I went out to dinner, but mainly we stayed in our hotel ::wink wink:: and um? It was awesome.

On Sunday we came back and took all the kids to see dog's herd sheep out at Masterson Station, you know, "that'll do pig"... stuff like that. I don't know what it's called but it was terrific to watch! My MIL has photos so as soon as she sends them to me, I'll post them! :)

Eyes.

Over the last couple of years my eyes have been bothering me, I think because I'm always on the computer and then always working with detailed things... etc. So, I'm probably stressing them out. Today while shopping at Michael's I found a pink pair of reading glasses and tried them on. Oh my! Not only were they pink, but I could see! ::sigh:: So, I will be going to the eye doctor this week to see about getting "real" glasses. It will be a first for me, but since I'm in my 38th year (as my Dad always says), I figure it might be time to get some glasses to help with the strain on my eyes. I'll see if Moon will snap my photo when I get new glasses. :)

Baseball.

We're in full baseball swing here. I enjoy it! Nathaniel's on the big-kid-league (I don't know what else they call it... Majors?) and tonight they won their first game! How exciting! He got to bat 4 times and I have to admit, I sure do like it a lot better than football. Remember all of that? Phew. What a mess. I so enjoy baseball. The best thing is, you know your kid will eventually get a turn at bat and get to play in the outfield our wherever. Plus, I like the atmosphere and the all-American-feel to it. :) Gotta love that.

So, that's it. :) All of the items purchased last week will be shipping tomorrow. Be on the look-out!

Talk to you tomorrow,
laurie

ps: an update on jack-jack... his ears are beginning to stand up on their own. :) one is almost all the way up and the other is working on it. jack's learning his name now but still doesn't come when you call, although I think that has more to do with being stubborn than anything. LOL

New Clearance Items...

here they are... this was all I could do in the midst of custom work, but they're all fantastic! And if you're an orange lover, well... definitely check out Orange Slices...and then there's Shades of Night...luscious Zebra Opal...and finally a simple diddy called Golden Turquoise... all easy and splendidly beautiful for Summer. By the way, Orange Slices comes with a pair of earrings and Shades of Night comes with both a matching bracelet and earrings. :) If you click the images, they'll take you to their full listings.

have a wonderful Saturday! Jeff and I are headed out fairly early. I'll talk more about my weekend on Monday.

hugs,

laurie

new items...

i added new items to the clearance page in my shoppe, but i haven't added their shopping cart buttons. i'm going to bed now. (it's 1:55am) i'll add the buttons later in the morning. :)

i'm tired.
see you in the morning. :)
laurie

Sweet Chicks.

...just roamin' the town, man. any sweet chicks live around here?

Jack-Jack: Hey there, Sadie! Do you know where I can give smooches to sweet chicks?
Sadie: Yeah, I do! I'll take you to them...

Yeah? Okay? They're takin' me for a ride... not sure about this!

This was definitely NOT what I meant by smoochin' on sweet chicks,
but I guess they'll have to do.

My life sure is full of surprises!

Hangin' with my homies...

Sallie:
"You're a real stinker. You never come when you're called. You really need to act better!"

Jack-Jack:
"Yeah. I know. But there's just SO much to see! I want to roll in it, lick and sniff it all!"

Jack-Jack:

"Hey, where'd you get that stick? I want one!"

Just hangin' out with my homies.

Happy Thursday!

Happy Thursday Everyone! :)

All packages purchased yesterday that don't need resizing will be shipped today. However, if you need something resized OR if you asked for changes, I'll make them today and tomorrow and ship Monday. Saturday and Sunday I won't be working. This week has been long and I need a break and want to spend some time with my family. :)

Tomorrow I'll be posting some more clearance items (lol) since I got a few emails from some who said, "I missed out!" Sorry about that! I'm working on putting up a clearance page each month. This isn't my specials, these are things that are simple, lower in price and perfect for a fun pick-me-up, wanting to spend some newly found cash, or want to give a gift to someone (or yourself for no reason at all). I suppose you could say it's like my old Value Page but these are things I can't make multiples of, so you'll have to catch them when you can.

I went to Zumba last night (again). I stood in between Moon and my other friend April. I don't like either of them anymore!!!!!! How they can get their upper body and their lower body to move independently of each other is BEYOND ME!! And!!!!! I CAN DO ANYTHING!!!!! I can!!! I can!!!! But I cannot Zumba!!!! grrr. I'm working on it. More on this soon... ugh.

Your uncoordinated friend,
laurie

Jack-Jack the slacker.

Hi.

I'm getting really sleepy. You just keep working. I'm taking a nap. I've had a hard day.
I'm just going to sleep in my cozy bed. You just go back to eating your Smarties.
(I guess he decided that he didn't want to sleep in his bed after all. lol)

(nearly out of the bed completely...lol)

Hi Everyone :)

Yesterday while I was busily working on orders and other things, Jack-Jack sat quietly in Bella's bed... I did put a towel over it so not too much pink would show. I don't think he cares but you never know, he might be offended by all that pink. :) I thought I'd show you a few of them. :) lol He's quite a character, Mr. Jack-Jack. He's learning his name and comes (for the most part) when you call. :)

You can see from my photos (just bits) that my work area is a mess! Yes. Yes. Yes. I know. You don't need to remind me, and don't get me started on my floor. Altho, I did sweep it last week but it has managed to get messy again. Oh well. That's what comes from intense work! I just plug along and forget that I have a trashcan, although it's pretty full at the minute.

You all have a great day, I'm so glad today is Wednesday. The weekend is close. I hope for sun.

:)

Clearance Sale!

Hello Everyone! Here's the link to the Clearance Sale! :) Have a great day!

If you have any questions, drop me an email.

Laurie

Wanna see? {some clearance items}

$49.99

Good morning! Take a look at some of my clearance items... they'll be up in a little bit... I just need to load the pages. :) These are just a few...
$59.99



$49.99

$59.99

... taking a break to say Hi!

Hi Everyone! How are you? Things here are quiet. My hubby has gone to run errands and the kids are all at school. Phew. I am so glad.

This morning I got the kids up fifteen minutes early so that they could decide what they wanted to wear, and I will tell you what, I'll never do that again. We were almost late! Ridiculous! I don't know why that is, but everytime I wake them up early we end up struggling to be on time. Now, if I do the regular routine of 6:45a, we have no trouble whatsoever. Does that make any sense at all? Yeah. Me neither. Oh well.

Jack-Jack is getting better about not having me around every waking minute. (lol) I put him in my work area and he cries if I walk out to go mail something. Wha! lol Cracks me up, he's a big ol' baby. Right now, he's sacked out on my bed but if I leave, he's sure to cry, but hopefully it will get better. He cuddles a lot, and I like that. He's a charmer. :)

Well, I better get back to whatever it was I was doing (work). I'll talk to you all later. Oh! I will have a few specials to put up this evening. They're going to be apart of my Season-Clearance-Sale. :)

Have a great day,
laurie

update again...

hi :)

i just finished about twenty-five bracelets... phew. glad that's done. i finished all the Peace and Love bracelets too, so they will all ship tomorrow. if you had anything that went with those bracelets, they will also ship with them (previous orders etc). all of the wedding orders are finished and mailed. so now that leaves custom orders.

those of you who've put in custom orders, i'll email you with details if we haven't discussed them already. i'll work on your beads on wednesday and thursday.

after that, i'll begin on my summer sale. several things are already made and i'll post them when i find the time, you know how it is... tomorrow night we have our first baseball game so my day will be cut short, but i'll be putting up a few of the new things tomorrow.

well, i guess that's it. they're calling me for dinner, not sure what we're having. :) hopefully something good. oh, with all the working today, i finished my sookie stackhouse book (number 9) and i have to say that it was really good, i was pleased with it and can't wait for the next one to come out at the end of this year. love my sookie!

have a great night,
laurie

Packages...

Update on packages... all packages will be mailed today, tomorrow and Wednesday. Just to keep you posted. If I don't answer quickly (I always try to answer asap!), just know that I'm knee-deep and getting them all done. :) Thank you for being patient with the One-Girl-Band. :)

hugs,
laurie

Happy Mothers Day - belated.

Hello! :) How was your Mother's Day? Mine was nice. We spent the day at my folks' house, this is my Mom's birthday and her Mother's Day (her birthday was yesterday). It's somewhat like Natalie's birthday being so close to Christmas, both of the big, big holidays smashed together, making it no fun waiting for them to come around again. :( My brother's family all came and then of course my crew was there, my Mom is a fantastic cook so we ate all the food she made (cupcakes too!). I've gained about ten pounds in the last month and I'm just sick, but let's not depress ourselves with that talk today. It is, after all, still Mother's Day!

It was tough going home because the last time we went, we were showing off Miss Bella, and now we had another little show off, a different one, in the form of Jack-Jack. :) He's sweet and everyone quickly realized how NOSEY he is, lol, cracked me up. He's NOT potty trained (whatsoever) and we're working on that. In fact, we all went to Build-a-Bear so the girls could spend the rest of their Easter money to get bear's, and while we were busy Jeff and Nathaniel had Jack-Jack in the grassy area. They were there for about thirty minutes or more and then... Jeff puts Jack-Jack into the car and he pees all over his computer bag. ::sigh:: Not fun. lol We'll be working on it for the next two, no ten months...or longer. boo. hiss.

We said our goodbyes and made the two and a half hour drive home. It's not a bad drive, it's so much better than when we lived in D.C. and had a ten hour drive. Yuck. This is a breeze!

Once home we all brought in the bags from our trip and then I began the never-ending chore: laundry. Got that going and then decided I wanted to check-out for a minute by watching some television. When I got upstairs I noticed the door was shut, it's not usually shut. Anyway, I open it to find Kitty and a lot of chewed up carpet. Oh dear. My poor little kitty was trapped in my bedroom! Thankfully he didn't have a bad time since I have a small bowl of food and a bowl of water in my bathroom (it was intended for Jack-Jack) so let's hope he didn't have any accidents. I didn't smell anything so I'm wondering if his immediate departure when I opened the door was the reason?

Sallie was glad to see us, Jack-Jack was sooo excited to see HER. :) I hope in time that they'll become fast friends. Oh, if you're wondering, Ashley's pup, Tiffany (same breed as Jack-Jack)... well, she did NOT like him... AT ALL. lol Tiffany knows my Mom as "Chickie Grandma" (because my Mom feeds her endless amounts of chicken when she comes to visit) and Tiffany didn't want to share her. So funny! Jack-Jack will eventually be "allowed" to fit in, I hope, but in our family he's King. He's a real cutie.

I hope you enjoyed your day. This week will be very busy for me, and all the Peace and Love bracelet Sets will go out too. :) I'm so glad to get everything shipped so I can focus on my Summer Sale.

Have a wonderful week and I'll talk to yuo soon...
xo
laurie

Fun in Grandma's Gator!

(Front: Morgan, Natalie & Nathaniel. Back: Faith, Nadine & Nicole)

We're at Grandma Eller's house, riding her Gator. Is that thing not the coolest?
It's like a car only way better. Morgan's driving (she's 12.5, going on 25. lol).

And... there they go. They had a lot of fun!

* * *

Jack-Jack was poooped!

Click HERE to view the full listing.
If you have trouble viewing it, it's due to my weak connection (I'm on the road, driving to Ohio).
As soon as I get to my MIL's house I'll re-load the page...

Saturday relaxation with Jack-Jack

On our way to Ohio, I wanted a coffee so we stopped at Mac's. Making sure Jack-Jack had an opportunity to "write and send letters", I put him in the grassy area. All he wanted to do was relax in the tall blades.

He smelled something, I don't know what, but you can see how his nose is crooked... lol I like this one.

hiding.

just hangin' out...

you can kinda see how big he is...

Just enjoying the day...

My groomer mentioned that we needed to "tape" his ears up so they would stand upright on their own.
I'm not sure. I kinda like them just as they are, floppy. Next week, I'll do some research online to
see what's better. I think this might be one reason he was still there, because most people want a
Yorkie whose ears stand up. I don't really care. He's unique. And Special.

Cat in a suitcase.

This week was long. I'll give you that, but today I only cried once about Bella. Just once. I miss her so...but, it will get better. ::smile::

I was visiting another blog and found the video (below). Since Monday, I've not really laughed... I've laughed but not where I was happy about why I was laughing, does that even make sense? Not fake laughing... just not a deep laugh... until I saw this clip. It made me laugh until I cried, in a good way, and for that I am so happy. It brought such joy to watch this little clip for almost three minutes. It's a riot. Definitely watch it. :) I think you'll laugh too.

Oh to have the life of a cat in a suitcase. :)
Thank you Becky for the clip.

lightening and thunder

hi everyone :)

i didn't get the bracelet up... we're having lightening and all sorts of terrible weather so i'm shutting it down. i'll put it up late or in the morning. with my luck, my computer would be struck. no thanks. i don't need any more bad news! ::sigh::

Weekend joy.

I am looking forward to the weekend.

We're leaving tomorrow for Cincinnati. It was supposed to be a weekend where I show off my Bella to my family, but that won't happen. ::sigh:: I am thankful that my parents and Niece (and hubby) got the opportunity to see her, and my folks came a few weeks ago and were here for several days. My Mom took video's of Bella playing with Sallie. I'll watch them someday. not now. later.

So, instead we'll be bringing jack-jack with us. He's a doll, I have to tell you. He's super funny and cuddly, I'm so glad. He is filling the hole, making us happy and although we slip and call him Bella sometimes, he doesn't mind and we quickly correct ourselves, realizing the mistake. He's a charmer. Of course, I'll be posting photos of his grooming session yesterday. (Emily!)

The day is busy. So I am off to finish things. Last night I torched until 12:30p. It was delightful. I so missed it. It tells me how much I love what I do. (I do!) Also, the peace and love beads arrived, tons of them!!! So I'll be making them all up on Monday and shipping on Tuesday, everyone's orders will go out. It took longer to get them than I expected but there were a lot of them...perfection usually has a wait-time. :) More soon. I have a gorgeous boro bracelet I'm putting up. It's beautiful and it's one of those pieces that has a different bead but they all coordinate? You know, one of those beauties. :)

So, check back later this afternoon... I have much, much to do until then so don't worry, it's not up. I must go... little jack-jack needs to go potty, and get this... he hasn't had any accidents today or yesterday. He's a smart cookie, that jack-jack.

You are all so kind. I'm sorry to produce such drama's all the time! It must have something to do with my middle name! (Gale... you know...like the wind...the tornado...::sigh:: ::laughs::) have a beautiful day, i'll be back (but i don't have a tuma) (do you get it?) my poor attempt at some humor. :)

xo L

jack-jack attack clip

Hi again, I've had some emails about not knowing who Jack-Jack is on The Incredibles cartoon by Pixar. Well, here's a clip. :) As you can see, little jack-jack is PRETTTTY tough! LOL Cracks me up to see this clip, especially when she keeps dousing him with the fire extinguisher. LOL

Click HERE to view the clip on Youtube.

Enjoy!

Cerulean Night

Here's the Cerulean blue and Onyx black double-strand bracelet, it has matching earrings too. If you want to see it, click HERE so you can go to the listing on my website. There are only two, I don't have enough Blue Howlite to create more of these, so if you like it... I'd grab it up. For the bracelet and earrings set, it's $69.99.

Update: One has already sold. Thank you Shelley!

Mail closet. New bracelet.

Hello. How are you? I hope you're having a better week than we are! It's going to get brighter around here, I promise. We had another great night with jack-jack. He didn't cry or even whimper when I put him in his crate, but it's really close to my head, I can stick my fingers in it. He lays his head on them and then he'll fall asleep, and I'll slowly pully my fingers out. He's sweet.

I've been asked about my studio and my mail closet, so I'm going to put this up here. It's nothing special, just where I do all the packing/boxing/mailing for your things. :)

In a minute I'm going to load Cerulean Night (double-strand gem bracelet) and matching earrings, so be sure to check back. I meant to put it up last week... but well, life got in the way. Talk to you later :)

laurie

Jack-Jack.

"hi. i'm jack-jack. i'm new here."

Emily-the-Great came through (of course). Here's our new little man, Jack-Jack. I told you, doesn't he just look ornery? He's going to the groomer's tomorrow but I wanted Emily to get him before he got his first hair cut, like she did with Bella. :) Jack-Jack is a busy little dude, I'll tell you that, he likes to "attack" My Little Petshop toys and loves Barbie's hair. lol He likes chasing too... anything... the cat. pieces of dog food-that don't move. children. paper. lol yeah, he chases it all. he's a hoot! :)

"hmm... i wonder if i can jump that far."

"hey, what's in here? is there food? you got any treats? i really like treats."